Tales of the Squire – What Innistrad May Bring to Legacy

As Innistrad spoilers are being added daily, people (myself included) are brewing up different decks in all formats. I have been mainly focusing on Legacy as Standard is just not the format for me, and Modern is still too new to me. So with all that said here are a few cards that I think can see play in Legacy and some possible uses.
The first and I think most obvious is Snapcaster Mage. This guy just seems nuts!

Personally I have always liked flashback as a mechanic and loved to play Blue/Green Madness back in the days of old extended. For me, the problem with most flashback cards was that they made you pay much more to cast your spell, and while that isn’t horrible, I rather not spend a lot of extra mana to cast a spell when there are more copies of that spell still in my deck. With Snapcaster Mage, you can take any instant or sorcery spell and flash it back for the exact same mana cost as before. Giving Snapcaster Mage Flash makes him that much more insane. With the amount of cheap or often free counter spells in Legacy, flashback just seems broken. But the most obvious card I think people will want to flashback is Ancestral Vision. Think about it- it’s three cards, plus a body for two mana. [edit – Sadly, that doesn’t work because Ancestral Vision does not actually have a mana cost, so it cannot be flashed back.]

With that in mind, I talked to local Jupiter player Greg Komar about a Blue/White list utilizing Snapcaster Mage. Here’s what Greg came up with:

While talking with Greg it came up that the Volcanic Island in the main is to utilize the sideboard. So as you can see with this list Snapcaster Mage can really be beneficial. He can do anything from dig you three deeper with brainstorm or even let you recast that Mental Misstep from earlier to counter a crucial spell. That is just one list which can use Snapcaster Mage. Obviously Snapcaster Mage can have plenty of applications in all formats.
Another card that struck me as something that could see play is Mindshrieker.

While we were talking Greg he told me that Jupiter Games celebrity Ken Adams was thinking of playing Mindshrieker in a Show and Tell type deck as an alternative win condition. I have to say that flipping an Emrakul and swinging with a 16/16 flyer is pretty good. The only potential problem I see with Mindshrieker in that type of deck is that it requires steps to actively flip a high mana cost card in order to get real value for a swing.
While watching some Magic coverage today there was talk about a possible Draco Explosion comeback. This got me thinking, so I quickly brewed this list. It’s very rough and has no testing whatsoever but with some testing I’d be willing to play it.
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Scalding Tarn
3 Wooded Foothills
3 Tropical Island
1 Taiga
2 Volcanic Island
2 Island
1 Forest
1 Mountain
4 Wastelands

So this deck uses Draco’s high mana cost to punish opponents. With a lot of decks cutting their “hard” counters, paying 3 mana to deal 16 damage to an opponent is pretty good. Again this list is pretty rough and could clearly use some testing. Worldly tutor may not be good enough and may need to be another cantrip such as Preordain or even Sensei’s Diving Top. I think a sideboard for this deck could even have a Natural Order package to throw off opponents along with a combination of more counters and other utility sideboard cards. This is a deck I would actually consider playing because it’s unique and it’s always fun to see an opponent’s face when they take 16 off an Erratic Explosion.
The last Innistrad card spoiled so far that could possibly see Legacy play is Fiend Hunter. I think that a card like Fiend Hunter could see play in a deck like Death and Taxes, where Aether Vile could be used to cheat him into play.

At the moment some Death and Taxes lists are playing Flickerwisp as a way to momentarily unequip a sword from a creature or even protect one of your creatures from a removal spell. Fiend Hunter plays a similar role in that it acts as the removal spell on an opponent’s creature. I realize Fiend Hunter is not the greatest when it comes to attacking but his ability may be good enough for him to see play.
So for now those are the cards that have stuck out to me and a few people that I have talked to. Hopefully the rest of the Innistrad spoiler brings some exciting new cards for Legacy players to brew with.
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3 thoughts on “Tales of the Squire – What Innistrad May Bring to Legacy”

I don’t think you can actually flashback Visions with Snapcaster Mage. T
Visions doesn’t have a mana cost. It would also make the other suspend cards from TSP block pretty unfair. The other two options are awesome, though. Good job.

Yeah, I just realized that it can’t flashback Ancestral Vision. That is my bad guys. I’m not claiming to be an expert on magic and I guess I should have looked deeper into it. Regardless I think he will still be good in a deck like this. So now he can no longer draw you cards, but oh well.